Led by Noble, the Pioneers (9-6) saw three different student-athletes record hat tricks. Noble set a new Denver Division I single-game record tallying 10 points on a career-high seven assists as well as a season-high tying three goals. Senior Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario) tied a career-high with five goals, while freshman Wes Berg (Coquitlam, British Columbia) netted three goals and added two assists for five points.

Senior Alex Demopoulos (Canton, Conn.) got into the action with three points, on two goals and an assist, while junior Eric Law (Centennial, Colo.) recorded two goals, including the final in the last second. Junior midfielder Cameron Flint (Georgetown, Ontario) capped off the scoring by adding a goal.

Redshirt-sophomore Drew Babb (Centennial, Colo.) assisted on the game-clinching goal. Junior midfielder Chase Carraro (Louisville, Ky.) also added an assist to go along with converting on 22-of-30 successful face-offs for the Pioneers, tying his career-high.

After North Carolina cut Denverâ€™s lead to 15-14 with 48 seconds left in the game, the Tar Heels regained possession and looked to score the game-tying goal. Following a UNC timeout, sophomore defensemen John Zurlo (Bernardsville, N.J.) forced a caused turnover, grabbing the groundball and relaying the pass to Babb who found a streaking Law for the open-net goal as time expired, sealing the victory for the Pioneers.

The Crimson and Gold secured only its second one-goal victory of the season, after dropping the previous five games, four of them in overtime.

In a game that saw three ties and five lead changes, the Pioneers were able to regain the lead for good at the end of the third quarter, scoring eight goals in the final half after tallying 11 alone in the second quarter.

The Pioneers will travel to Annapolis, Md., on Saturday, May 19, for their third match-up this season against top-seeded Loyola (Md.) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.